1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to oil containment systems and, more specifically, to an oil containment system deployable from an oil carrying vessel in the event of a leakage or rupture.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oil spills from oil tankers or other oil carrying vessels have catastrophic environmental effects. Oil spills have been known to create slicks measuring in the hundreds of square miles. While time is clearly of the essence when containing an oil spill, presently available technology does not facilitate rapid containment. Conventionally, floating booms are assembled at the periphery of the slick in an effort to prevent spreading. However, these booms are usually not brought into position until hours, sometimes days, after the event which lead to the spill. Thus, the effectiveness of conventional booms is severely limited. For vessels which are undergoing a loading or unloading operation, it is known to provide barriers, such as booms, which can be assembled around the vessel. One example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,146,598, issued to Smith, for an apparatus which is stored near a docking area, and deployed by a towing vessel. The floating boom is stored in a folded position and, when deployed, forms a continuous elongated flexible polymer fin made buoyant by a plurality of polymer floats. While this apparatus may be effective for containing an accidental spill, it must be deployed before an accidental spill occurs, such as when the vessel is docked. Therefore, the apparatus would provide no protection for a moving vessels which incurs a tank rupture while under way.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,406, issued to Casey, provides a containment boom which supports an upstanding curtain. This patent is similar to Smith in that it must be deployed while the ship is docked.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,739, issued to MacLean, describes another barrier which is deployed when a vessel is docked. The barrier is corrugated and retractable to fit against the docking side of the vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,818,708 describes a permanent floating barrier which includes an upstanding curtain made buoyant by a float element.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,538, issued to Hauan, describes a barrier attached to the side of a ship. The barrier increases in height toward the side of the ship in order to form a barrier sail which extends from the height of the deck and down to the beginning of the bilge section at the side of the ship. The barrier is intended to act as a collector and as such is intended to direct oil towards a collection point.
A system which can be used to encircle a non-docked vessel is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,834, issued to Bouvier. The system includes a boom which encircles the vessel and which is held at a distance from the vessel by rib members. Skirts hang downwardly from the boom to extend below the bottom of the vessel, and are weighted on the lower ends for stability.
While the structure described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,834 has the potential to be deployed immediately, there is very little description of how the boom is deployed. Moreover, the rib members cannot be assembled quickly enough to position the boom around the vessel.